The use of toothbrushes incurs the problem that the brush heads are contaminated during teeth cleaning with bacteria or viruses present in the oral cavity. As long as the brush is not fully dried, the ambient conditions of the brush head suffice for germ survival. Because the toothbrush bristles are arranged tightly against each other, the liquid absorbed by them during tooth brushing is stored for a comparatively long time in the brush head. If the toothbrush is used twice daily, or, as recommended by the professionals, possibly three times, then it must be assumed that full drying of the brush head--which in air takes approximately 72 hours--will not take place.
Accordingly, the toothbrush remains contaminated when used typically and therefore it must be presumed that in each brushing germs are reintroduced into the mouth. Self-infection may then take place in extant malady. Moreover the repeated spreading of pathogenic bacteria by the toothbrush in the mouth caused by bacterial odontopathies is undesired. The situation is more critical still when the toothbrush is used not by one person, but by several different ones, or when individually used toothbrushes are so kept in a common vessel that contact and hence pathogen exchange is possible between the brushes. In such cases the undesired self-infection is made more acute by the infection from foreign germs.
Accordingly it has already been proposed to disinfect the brush head between brushings. Illustratively, cleansing apparatus for toothbrush heads are already known from Japanese patent document 3-167 139 and from German Gebrauchsmuster 91 07 132.1, in which sterilization is implemented using hot air or steam in the absence of sterilizing means.
Apparatus of this species, disclosed in the German patent document 296 02 929 U1, consists of a container of one or several compartments and fitted with a lid, the compartments being filled with liquid disinfectants. Between brushings, the toothbrushes are individually placed in the compartments, a comb present in the lid wiping the brush head being inserted and removing coarse particles from the head's bristles. It is questionable whether in such apparatus all zones, that is including the lowermost bristle zones, which are known to be the least accessible and the slowest to dry, are in fact reached by the disinfectant. Moreover, there is danger that the disinfectant's effectiveness will degrade several hours after its application. Again, the fairly long time intervals spent by the toothbrush in the solution between brushings are considered unsanitary.